you knew it was coming...best albums of 2011

2011 is about to wrap itself up and while, personally, it was somewhat of a shitty year, musically it was fantastic.  I was originally going to try and narrow it down to just 10 albums but that seemed to be an injustice to a lot of good albums that did drop this year, so i'm doing 20 instead. Also, I hate narrowing this down, there will be a lot of albums that will be left out that probably would have made my top ten in other years, but I've got to cut it off at some point. Wanna know something else pretty cool? There are a ton of albums that I've heard great things about that I have still not have had the chance to listen to, so I'm sure...

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the art of atmosphere

first off, forgive the emo title but it'll make more sense further on down.  there have only been two albums that have been released in the past couple of weeks that i've felt like buying (yes, i buy all of the albums i talk about...it gets very expensive sometimes), and while they're both very different in their approach, both are phenomenal.  first off, O'Brother released Garden Window digitally this week and within one listen it has become one of my favorite albums (if not favorite) album of 2011. now, let's bring this blog title back into play.  one of the best things about this album is the atmosphere they created throughout its entirety. expressing atmosphere within music is one of the hardest things to do (i think) and keeping that atmosphere throughout 60 minutes...

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man, oh man, the chariot jams

so the whole band took a mini road trip up to columbia see the chariot show at new brookland tavern. yea, it was awesome.  i haven't been that impressed by a band live in a long time. so much passion, so much energy that it becomes infectious. also makes me impatient to start playing shows again, but alas we still need to hammer out a couple more songs...hopefully we'll be able to play a show before christmas though. here's a short clip (it's from a phone so judge accordingly) from the chariot's set...love that band. also,  former thieves played second that night and they were impressive to say the least. reminded me of poison the well a bit. i bought their album, haven't stopped listening to it since.  and last but not least, listener opened up the show....

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the classics

I've found myself listening to albums that I've grew up with a lot lately so i figured i would write up a blog on the albums i consider to be "classics" in my own collection.  there aren't many better feelings than falling back in love with an album from years ago. Saves the Day ~ Stay What You Are Songs ~ At Your Funeral, Nightingale  At Your Funeral is, hands down, one of my favorite songs of all time. till this day, the ring out/vocal combination that kicks in at 0:40 gives me chills. The entire album is a top 5 album for me.  They've recently released Daybreak, which is a great and worth the 10 bucks or whatever iTunes is selling it for now, and that release reminded me to revisit Stay What You Are...haven't stopped listening to it since then.  The MovieLife...

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By Sea / By Land: The Hathaway Sessions

Annnnnddddd it's done! Finally. It took longer than I had originally planned but Kyle was pretty awesome at coming up with ideas, layers, instruments, etc... that I just couldn't turn any of it down. I owe a lot of this recording to him. He breathed life into some of the older songs and almost all of the really cool vocal arrangements were his idea.  He's a good dude, glad to have him in my life. Otherwise, it's an odd, slightly eclectic collection of songs, spanning a few different genres.  Guess that's what i get for listening to such an odd collection of music. <p><p><p><a...

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[UPDATED]too much good music

In the past two weeks, a ton of really good music (and one rather disappointing album) have been released.  It's been one of those weeks were I have no idea what to listen to because it's all good. Thrice ~ Major/Minor For Fans of: Thrice....they've released 8 albums, you should know what they sound like by now Listen to: Promises, Anthology If I did some sort of rating thing, I'd give this 100 stars out of 10, it's that good.  I absolutely love this album and this band.  They're one of the few bands that can consistently merge multiple styles in one album and nothing seems out of place, which is a lot harder feat than most people may think. Now, if you didn't care for their last release, Beggars, then this may not be the album for you but Beggars is one of my favorite albums...

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on the lookout & notable releases

it's been a while since i've done a post just about music so here's a long overdue update on stuff i've discovered. i'm going to point out three singles that are currently making their way through the interwebz for albums that have yet to be released and there was a lot of really good albums released this week so i'll point those out.  hopefully give a few of you something new to listen to while drinking your morning coffee (if you don't drink coffee, no worries, you can still listen to them). Artist: Jamie N Commons Song: The Preacher Album Release: No Idea For Fans of: Murder By Death; ...And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead The Preacher by Jamie N Commons Did you just listen to that? Jesus man, how does a British dude channel country better than 99% of the...

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twist and turns and unknown roads

so maybe i have a tendency to speak too soon, cause whenever i get my hopes up about something, it gets slammed down pretty quick. bearhugger, at least as it was at my last post, is no more. received an email on monday that ryan, the other guitarist, was moving to seattle with his fiance....right then. as in, he was somewhere over the mississippi i think. such a weird turn of events. the fact that him and his fiance made a life decision that they thought was best for them, doesn't bother me. waiting until you were out of the state to tell your bandmates, that bothers me a lot. he tried to make it sound (in the email) like everything happened within the span of 12 hours or something, but he had to have at least some inkling that he may be moving. we had practice last wednesday, he...

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Often Awesome and an Overall Life Update

It's been a little while since my last post, a lot has happened and a lot has stayed the same...guess that's about par for the course. First, i fell compelled to call attention to the passing of an insanely inspiring dude, Tim LaFollete. Tim had ALS, better known as Lou Gehrig's Disease. I only had the pleasure of meeting Tim on a few occasions but he's been a great friend to a lot of my close friends (Mark, Joel, Josh, Seth, etc...) so even the first time i met him, I felt like I knew him. if you're familiar with the NC music scene, you may know him as the bass player from Kudzu Wish...and if you're not familiar with Kudzu Wish, you're missing out. Anyways, after his diagnosis, instead of being depressed and feeling sorry for himself, he along with friends and loved ones, started Often...

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moniker change and loner status and being labeled a "nice guy"

so i've spent the past two nights recording some songs with Kyle. It's going well, even though last night was cut short by lightning. there's still some mixing that needs to be done but "lies dipped in gold", "cynical", and "nostalgia" are all recorded. my original idea was to add a bunch of layers but now that we've actually begun recording, and having a chance to listen to the songs a little closer (having the same song on repeat for an hour, even if you wrote it, can be irritating), i think i'm going to keep them simplified. With the new EP, will be a moniker change. I'm retiring Urban Electric Company and going with By Sea / By Land. Kyle informed me that UEC sounds more like house music and I'd have to agree. I like the name, but just didn't fit the style. I've already changed the...

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products of an overactive brain and then the rest of life

my brain never seems to shut itself off. i wake up multiple times in the night with things already running through my head. it's annoying, sometimes i wish i didn't have it and i could just relax and not think about things that have or haven't happened (yes, i stress myself out over things that may never even come to fruition). my friend leah believes it to be a curse for us that have some sort of creative side (art, music, etc...) and i'd have to agree, my overactive brain does help me write music but fuck...give me a break, would ya?? anyway, enough of that. saw bon iver this past friday. such a bittersweet show (if you know me, you know why), he was incredible though. definitely happy i got to see him at least once in my lifetime. i was able to record a couple of songs on my phone,...

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oh life...

so the past week and a half has been a roller coaster of sorts. i've written this blog post a couple of times and then promptly deleted it. it's not that i haven't wanted to write, it's actually all i've done, just didn't want to write a blog post. but here's a quick life update. brianne and i are no longer together, she felt she needed time a part to work on herself and even though it sucks and i miss her, i'll respect the decision (don't really have a choice i guess, but you know what i mean) and give her the space she wants. had an interview for a job in charlotte finally. not sure if it's something i want to do, some of it seems alright but a lot of it seems like it really wouldn't challenge me at all. granted, they have to offer me the job first so not going to get too ahead of...

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ten albums worth owning so far in 2011

since it is july and therefore half of 2011 is over, there are top ten lists coming out every where you look so i figured i would add to the list. there has been a surprising amount of really good music that has come out since january so narrowing it down to just 10 was more difficult than i would have originally thought. 10. The Wonder Years ~ Suburbia I've Given You All and Now I'm Nothing A really good pop-punk album from a completely underrated band. hopefully 2011 will give them the recognition they deserve. surprisingly, the first show i played in charleston was opening up for these guys...pretty sweet. 9. The Swellers ~ Good For...

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tunage tuesday?

so i've realized that i am a major source of new music for a lot of my friends, or just music in general, not necessarily new music. i know a few of them would never own an album past blink 182's "dude ranch" if i didn't shove music down their throat (looking at you hef, yes i know you're reading this). ok, maybe that's a bit of a stretch but still, i spend a lot of time every week recommending bands to friends or telling one if some band's new album is any good so i decided every week, i'll try to mention a few bands that i've discovered or can't take off repeat. this won't be day specific but i'm gonna use alliteration for the title whenever...

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i miss you jean jean

i don't really plan on making sad posts a common thing, but this one is going to be one. well, maybe not sad per se but a bit of a downer. this is an open letter to jeanna, a close friend/sister that i lost back in march. i still don't think i've fully come to grasp that i won't see her again, even months later. i miss you jean jean. lately you've been on my mind more and more and i felt compelled to write all of this down. to understand how close we are (i don't think i'll ever be able to use the past tense), i've known her since i was 12 and she was my best friend's sister so basically my sister. the entire brown family is my family. i...

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punching writer's block in the throat

so if you've ever had to deal with writer's block, you know how much it sucks. constantly wanting to write something down, to get your emotions on paper but every time you try nothing comes to mind...it's one of the worst feelings. writing, even my crappy songs, keeps me from going insane because otherwise, i don't talk about my emotions...ever. ask the gf how hard it is to get me to talk, she'll back me up on that last statement. so maybe some of you are wondering, so what? you can't write, what's the big deal? it's not like it's your day job or something. well writing is my therapy and writer's block keeps me from having said therapy so things start building up, it's not good. and once things start building up, my brain does this weird thing where it'll take the smallest negative thought...

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